


Teenage Experience

by artist_artists



Category: Glee
Genre: Birthday Presents, F/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-21
Updated: 2013-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 08:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1091998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artist_artists/pseuds/artist_artists
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Unique has a birthday gift for Ryder, but she's a little nervous about giving it to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teenage Experience

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Januarium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Januarium/gifts).



_Deep breaths_ , Unique thinks to herself as she hangs back in the choir room after glee, waiting for Ryder to finish talking to Blaine. _It’s a gift. Relax. No one gets mad about a gift._

Finally, Blaine notices her. “Do you want us to walk you to your car?” he asks politely.

“No, thank you,” she replies. “Just waiting to have a word with Ryder.” Unique loves Blaine, but right now she really hopes he’ll take the hint and go away. She doesn’t know how this is going to go, and she doesn’t really want an audience.

“Ah, well, I’ll get out of your way, then,” Blaine says, giving her a bright smile. “Bye Ryder, Unique. Have a good evening.” He grabs his bag from the chair next to him and slings it over his shoulder before heading out.

Unique finally chances a glance at Ryder. He looks curious but not wary, and she shouldn’t be surprised, really. There hasn’t been any awkwardness between them since Regionals, but she still worries that it could return at any moment. She’s not trying to push anything - she still likes him, despite her best efforts to make the crush go away, and his best efforts to turn her off with his insistence that she was a guy. She likes him in a way that _hurts_ \- her mom says that’s a normal part of the teenage experience. Unique’s spent a lot of time wishing she could be a bit more normal, but if this is what normal feels like, it really ain’t all that great. She and Ryder are friends, and it’s fine, and she’s lucky to have that much after all the lying, but it’s hard sometimes, knowing she will just have to deal with that fluttering feeling in her stomach every time he smiles at her.

“What’s up?” Ryder asks once Blaine is out of the room.

Unique takes a deep breath. “I’m going to be out of school Monday - doctor’s appointment,” she says. “And I probably won’t see you, so I wanted to make sure I gave you your birthday gift today.”

Ryder’s eyes widen. “How did you even know-- oh,” he interrupts himself. “I told Katie.”

Unique’s heart sinks at the name, but she powers through. “You told _me_ ,” she corrects him. “It’s just a friendly gift. I didn’t mean for it to be weird, but I have a good memory, and I wasn’t going to ignore your birthday.”

“No, it’s totally fine,” Ryder says. “I was just surprised. I don’t really make a big deal out of my birthday. I, um, remember yours, too - September 28th. Unless…” he trails off, looking unsure. “Was that a fake birthday? To throw me off the trail?”

“No, no,” she assures him, feeling her cheeks heat up with the knowledge that he remembers her birthday as well. Maybe he wrote it down on his calendar like she did, and started making plans for the big day. “Like I said, pretty much everything was true.”

“So… I would’ve found out,” Ryder says. “I mean, I doubt you would’ve been quiet about your birthday come September.”

  
“Oh, you would’ve found out,” she confirms. “I kind of… wanted you to.”

Ryder raises an eyebrow. “Then why’d you bother trying to hide it?”

“I didn’t want to _tell_ you, I wanted you to figure it out on your own.”

“What’s the difference? The truth is still the truth.”

Unique bites her lip - she’s not sure if this will make any sense to him. “But if you figured it out on your own, it would at least mean that you considered me a possibility. That you thought all the good things you felt might actually be about me. It’s just… for most people, I’m _not_ a possibility.”

Ryder’s quiet for a moment. “I guess I get that,” he says. “But…”

“But I still should have told you. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She almost adds, “I wish I hadn’t done it at all,” but it would be a lie. It hasn’t ended the way she wanted, but getting to know Ryder is a gift too precious to regret.

“I know.”

There’s another silence after that, and Unique tries to break the tension. “And you’re right about me not being quiet about my birthday. You weren’t in glee club last year, so you didn’t see, but it was a _spectacle_ , let me tell you.”

The corners of Ryder’s lips quirk upward at that. “I can only imagine.”

“And that was when I barely knew everyone,” she adds with a grin. She hadn’t meant for the conversation to get so heavy, and it’s a relief to see Ryder smiling. “Anyway, your gift…” She reaches into her bag and pulls out the extravagantly wrapped package. “It’s nothing too exciting.”

“Can I open it now?” he asks, taking it from her. “Wow, did you make this bow yourself?”

“Yes and yes,” she says, giving him a little curtsy. “It took a while.”

“I don’t want to rip it,” he says, frowning as he contemplates the gift.

“Just slide it off,” she suggests. “Here, let me see.”

He hands it back to her, and after a moment, she gives him the bow and the gift. he lets the ribbon and bow slide down over his hand onto his arm like an overly large bracelet, then tears into the paper.”Silver Linings Playbook,” he murmurs, reading the cover of the blu-ray.

He’s not being rude, but Unique feels like she has to defend the gift anyway. _I didn’t want to get anything too personal or too expensive and freak you out, but I didn’t want to get something totally_ impersonal _, either._ “You said you hadn’t seen it, and I know you really like Jennifer Lawrence. I know it’s not-”

“It’s great, thank you,” he says.

Before Unique can reply, Mr. Schuester re-enters the choir room from his office. “You guys ready to head out?” he asks. “I’m about to lock up in here.”

“Yeah Mr. Schue, we’re on our way,” Ryder tells him.

“Have a good night,” Unique says, and they head toward the door.

“Are you doing anything tonight?” Ryder asks her once they’re in the hallway, and her heart skips a beat.

“No big plans,” she says, trying to sound casual. “Why?”

“We could watch it? The movie, I mean. The one that you got me. Unless you’ve seen it…”

“I haven’t,” she says quickly.

“Cool,” he says, rubbing one of his hands on his jeans. He seems almost as nervous and awkward as her right now, which is strangely comforting. “You could come over, if you wanted. My parents aren’t home.”

Unique’s eyes widen. “Oh, I-”

“Crap, I didn’t mean that in a weird way,” he hastens to add. “Or… not _weird,_ I don’t mean that it would be _weird_ , I just… well, it would be weird, but not in the way that you’re probably _thinking_ that I’m thinking. It’s just that… I really only meant that we can watch the movie without them bugging us. My mom’s been talking about how she wants to see this movie, and if she knew we were watching it, we wouldn’t be able to get rid of her.”

Unique smiles. “Makes sense. I’d love to. I just have to let my parents know.” _And fix my hair and my makeup and squeal a bit in private._ “I have to stop at my locker, too. I’ll meet you outside?”

“Sure,” Ryder says, giving her a grin. “See you in a few.”

They part ways for the time being, Unique turning back toward her locker and Ryder heading toward the exit . Unique turns around after a moment to see if he’s still in view or if it’s safe for her to commence her squealing. She sees him at the end of the hallway, doing some sort of jig as he approaches the door, and if she wasn’t certain before, she definitely is now - those fluttery feelings are here to stay.


End file.
